- Picunche
The Picunche (a
mapudungun word meaning "North People")cite book | last = Elliott | first = Lilian Elwyn | title = Chile Today and Tomorrow | publisher = Macmillan | date = 1922 | location = | pages = Page 312 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=N6UOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA312&dq=Picunche+-wikipedia+people&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1 | doi = | id = ] , also referred to as "picones" by the Spanish, were a mapudungun speakingChilean people living to the north of the "Mapuche " orAraucania ns (a name given to those Mapuche living between the Itata andToltén Rivers) and south of theChoapa River and theDiaguitas . Until the Conquest of Chile the Itata was the natural limit between theMapuche , located to the south, and Picunche, to the north. During the Inca attempt to conquer Chile the southern Picunche peoples that successfully resisted them were later known as thePromaucaes .The Picunche living north of the Promaucaes, were called "Quillotanes" [ Juan Ignacio Molina, Compendio de la historia civil del reyno de Chile, pg. 9. Named for
Quillota , one of the settlements of theInca Empire in Chile.] (those living in theAconcagua River valley north to the Choapa) and "Mapochoes " (those living in theMaipo River basin) by the Spanish, and were part of theInca Empire at the time when the firstSpaniards arrived in Chile.Among the peoples the Spanish called the Promaucaes the people of the
Rapel River valley were particularly called by this name by the Spanish [ Juan Ignacio Molina, Compendio de la historia civil del reyno de Chile, pg. 9. ] . Those of theMataquito River valley were called the "Cures" [ Juan Ignacio Molina, Compendio de la historia civil del reyno de Chile, pg. 9. ] . The people in theMaule River valley and to the south were distinguished as "Maules" and those to the south of the Maules and north of the Itata were known as "Cauqui" by the Inca [ Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios reales, 2da_VII_20 20 ] and "Cauquenes " by the Spanish [ Juan Ignacio Molina, Compendio de la historia civil del reyno de Chile, pg. 9. ] and that gave their name toCauquenes River .Agriculture
The Picunches primary crops consisted of corn and potatoes, and they lived in wooden houses.
References
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